Fluid-fuel burner.



.S. T. WILLSON.

FLUID FUEL BURNER.

` APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 23, |916.

Patented Feb. 6, 1917.

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f causing the flame' to from the burner at a an open discharge SAMUEL TULLY WILLSON, OF BROOKLYN, YORK.

FLUID-FUEL BURNER.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 23, A1916. Serial N o. 121,874.

To all rwhom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, SAMUEL TU'LLY WILL- soN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fluid-Fuel Burners; and I-do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will' enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to fluid fuel burners, and more particularly to those for burning a mixture of gas and air above a diaf phragm or grid.

It is the object of my invention to provide a burner which will permit a wide range of adjustment in the amount of both the gas and the air or oxygen supplied, without blow away from the burner or to Hash back through the burner (back fire).

I prevent the llame blowing away by causing a portion of the gas and air to issue much lower velocity and I prevent the flame through the burner by either keeping the velocity of the mixture greater than the rate lof flame propagation, or keeping the temperature of the mixture within the burner below the ignition temperature, or both.

lThe burner consists of a shell whose wall is preferably thick, its upper portion having chamber and its lower distributing chamber than the main body; from flashing 4back portion inclosing a into which the gas .and air are led from any suitable source; and a diaphragm or grid properly supported within its upper and lower portions and madek up of a multiplicity of small upright elements, of refractory material or otherwise, disposed in close contact with each other and with the wall of the shell. These-elements are non-angular and preferably round or cylindrical so as to leave interstices between them, and the elements may be short'pins contacting with each other for perhaps twothirds of their length third tapered' upward vto points. tails enter into the construction of the burner as set forth below. Reference is had to the aoco panying drawings wherein plan view and Fig. 2 a ver- Figure l is a tical section of one type of this burner.

the shell etween and` the remaining:

Other depins.

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 of supports.

Fig. 9 is a sectional detail showing one means for mounting the support in -the shell.

The shell l is tubular, stands on a vertical axis, has a rather thick wall threaded at its lower end as at 2 for connection with anysuitable' source through which is supplied the gas and the air,.and internally its lower portion contains a distributing (or in some cases a mixing) chamber 3. Its upper end isl shown as open at 5,-and below the same stands the grid yet to be described, and which separates the chamber 3 from the upper portion of the shell which might be called the combustion or discharge chamber 4. In the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the shell is round or cylindrical externally, but it is hexagonal internally as at 6.

The two so-called chambers are separated by arather thick diaphragm,`or more properly agrid, which is made up of a number of relatively short elements 7, non-angular and preferably cylindrical and of metal or of refractory material such as lire clay, magnesia, etc. Between the elements themselves Figs. 3, t and 5 are enlarged 'details of are diagrammatic views and between them and the wall of the shellv are interstices 8 open at their upper and lower ends. In the type of my invention shown in Fig. @his disclosed parallel rows of these elements standing in close contact withl each other and in close contact with those in contiguous rows,or Checked both ways across the shell. In the type shown in Fig.A 7 the elements are'disposed in parallel rows, but staggered. of elements makes upa grid of hexagonalv contour. Here also the elements although staggered stand in close contact with each other and produce'triangular interstices be-l tween them, and the outermost elementsy sltandin close contact with therwall of the siell.

If the elements are of metalthey may be wedged into position by being pressed or driven into place with `such force thatl no extraneous means is necessary 'to hold them, and the absence of such extraneoussupporting means leaves the interstices unimpeded. If the elements are of refractory material they'may be supported on a foraminous sheet Patented Feb. e, 1917, v

InrFig. 1` the entire cluster provided the latter forms 11o-impedance toV116 the flow of fluid through the grid. This foraminous support may be a wire screen 10 suitably mounted within the shell, as perhaps by resting on a shoulder 11 therein as seen in Fig. 9, but its meshes should. be square as seen in Fig. 6 if the elements are checked both ways, or should be of diamond shape as seen in Fig. if the elements are staggered. I reserve the broadest latitude in this respect, and the foraininous support might even be parallel wires as seen at Fig. 8; but in any` case it is desirable that the openings in the support register well with and are perhaps larger than the interstices S between the elements 7.

Vhile the bodies of the elements are preferably cylindrical and in any event must stand in close contact with each other, I prefer that theirv upper ends shall be reduced as has been stated. Such ends may be made conical as seen at 14 in Fig. 4, the walls of the .cone may be dished slightly as seen at 15 in Fig. 5, or the walls of the cone may bulge slightly as seen at 13 in Fig. 8- tliereby making the points parabolic which is the structure I prefer; but in this respect also I reserve the widest latitude, so long as the upper ends `of the elements are tapered,xand it may not even be necessary' to taper them completely to the points as shown at 16.i Whatever the form of taper, it will be clear that the result is. that the interstices between elements are separated from each othery and of one size and shape throughout the length of the bodies of the elements, and at the line where these bodies merge into the tapering ends the interstices expand in size and are 1n communication' with `each other-the communication being slight at first and growing more ample toward the surface of the grid. If the upper ends are carried to points 1G as shown, in the plane of all the points it will be clear that the interstices have expanded in size to such anextent that they merge into each other and into the chamber 4 or in other words the walls of the interstices have entirely disappeared. Vhile such enlargement of the interstices is gradual in any event, it is constant if the upper ends of the elements are conical as seen in Fig. 4, or if said ends have the shape 'shown in Fig. 13 the enlargement of the interstices is slight at rst and grows graduallymore rapid up to the plane ofthe face of the grid. It is quite within the spirit of my invention that the 'different elements at different parts of the grid might be variously tapered, but this suggestion will not need illustration.

In the use of this burner the fluid fuel or gas and the air torbe mixed therewith are supplied to the shell at its inlet end, which is that, end shown as threaded, and it flows into the chamber 3 where it is preheated pered and expanded by the warmth of the wall of thev shell'. Passing upward from this chainber, it flows through the grid, and in any construction it passes through the interstices thereof. lVhile doing so, that portion of each subdivision of the mixture which flows along the corners or angles of the interstices is slightly retarded, whereas the remainder which'might be said to flow along the axes thereof is not retarded to suc'h an extent and therefore moves more rapidly'. The result is that when the mixture is lighted along the top of the grid, the flame is not blown away from the grid by the velocity with which the mixture passes through it. On the contrary, the flame will-closely overlie the surface of the grid, even though the admission of air and gas is adjusted through a wide range. I consider the proper adjustment to be such that the velocity of the mixture shall be slightly greater than the rate of flame propagation. This provides one reason for preventing the flame from flashing back through the grid into the mixing chamber, which is so common in burners of this type. The elements soon become heated, and as they kare in close contact with each otherand all of one material the heat is conveyed from one to another and is spread over the grid uniformly. As the outermost elements are in close contact with the wall of the shell, some of this heat is communicated to such wall which a little lower surrounds the chamber 3, and the resiilt is that the mixture therein is preheated as above described; and yet the heat below the grid-is always lower than that of ignition temperature, which is another reason for kpreventing backfiring.

lVith the upper ends of the elements taand perhaps pointed as shown, the mixture after flowing through the interstices may expand between the points, and the result is that as it reaches the plane in which conibastion is maintained it is flowing less rapidly than lower down within the interstices. This causes combustion to take place on the very surface of the grid, so that the tips of the points become highly heated and incandescent; While I prefer to have the elements round or cylindrical as shown, I would always have them non-angular so as to leave interstices between them, and the interstices should have angles to retard the flow of some portion of the stream of mixture passing through them.

What I claim is:

1. A burner comprising a shell and a cluster of upright non-angular elements standing in said shell parallel to its axis in close contact with each other and extending uninterruptedly across it, the 'outermost elements being in close contact with said wall so as to communicate vtheir heat thereto, said elements constructed to provide a series of ducts each outwardly flaring at their outer ends.

2. In a burner, a shell and a grid composed of bars parallel to the` axis of the shell, each having differential diameters at vdiflongitudinally and standing ferent points parallel in close contact with eachother and extending uninterruptedly across the interior of the shell.

3. In a burner, a tubular shell and a grid across it between its. upper and lower ends composed of longitudinally tapering. elements of refractory material disposed parallel to the shell axis so as stices.

el. A burner comprising a shell and a grid arranged across the interior thereof and made up of a number of elements arranged parallel to the axis of the shell forming parallel interstices and standing in close Contact with each other, said elements having theirupper ends tapered.

5. A burner comprising an upright tubular shell, and a grid supported across the interior thereof and made up of a number of individual cylindrical elements standing in close contactwith each other and having their upper ends tapered to points.

6. A gas burner yhaving a grid o-r diaphragm whose body is pierced by a number of ducts each terminating with a flaring mouth, all of which merge into one in a common plane at the surface of the grid.

7. A combustion plate consisting of a cluster of cylindrical elements with their axes perpendicular to the plateand having the ends which form one side of the plate tapered. f

8. A burner comprising a tubular shell,

to produce intera grid across the interior thereof and made having an internal shoulder between its ends, a foraminousmetal support resting on the shoulder, anda grid portl and havingV upright openings registerving at one end with those in the support and each opening flaring outwardly at its other end and-all merging together.

l0. A burner comprising an upright shell, p

a support vof mesh metal fabric across it, and a grid composed of cylindrical elements whose bodies are in close contact with each other and disposed in checkedy rows along the strands of said fabric with' the vinter-` stices between themA registering with the and whose upper .y ends are tapered upwardto a plane below i openings in said fabric,

the. upper end of the shell.

l1. A burner comprising atubular shell,

resting on the supa grid across the interior thereof and made up of parallel to the axis of the shell forming interstices and having their upper ends tapered, and a support for the grid.

12. A chamber having a combustion plate across one end,'said combustion plate being made up of a series O :f refractory elements cylindrical in form andin close proximity to each other and with their outer ends tapered. Y

In testimony whereof I affix my signature. f i

SAMUEL TULLY WILLSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 4of Patents,

,Washington D. C. l

a number of individual elements 

